


Dreams of Murderworld

by dykemoons



Category: Marvel 616, Runaways (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Lesbian Character, Loss of Limbs, Minor Violence, Murderworld, Nightmares, deanoru - Freeform, nothing that didnt already happen in avengers arena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 13:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17602616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykemoons/pseuds/dykemoons
Summary: After everything she's been through, Nico Minoru has nightmares.But she doesn't have to deal with them alone anymore.





	Dreams of Murderworld

**Author's Note:**

> Tagged for violence just in case, mostly for one action that already happened in the comics.

Nico Minoru was freezing. Probably to death, she thought, if she didn’t get out of this zone soon. The snow was blowing so hard all around her that she couldn’t see which way she should be going, only a wall of white in every direction. But Nico knew if she stopped, she’d die, so the only option was to keep moving until she found warmth.

The further she went, the harder it was to move her limbs as the cold chilled her deeper and deeper. Nico had been to every corner of Murderworld by this point, and she hadn’t thought it was this big. She had to be close to another, warmer area by now, right?

Nico started to shiver uncontrollably. She looked around desperately, trying to find some sign of green land, or even another “contestant”, on the off chance they’d help her out instead of killing her.

A little ways ahead of her, her eyes caught sight of something...purple? Nico ran forward, chasing the only sign of help she’d seen in hours. As she got closer, the purple finally came into focus, and when she saw it, Nico stopped dead in her tracks.

The purple shape was hair, framing a face she recognized with horror as Gert, standing in front of her, with a large dagger buried in her chest.

“Gert, what are….how…” Nico was dumbfounded and terrified at the sight her dead friend standing in front of her.

Suddenly blood started pouring out of Gert’s mouth. Gert looked down at the dagger in her heart, then back up at Nico.

“You were supposed to be our leader. How could you let this happen to me?” Gert sounded afraid and betrayed, and Nico didn’t know how to respond.

“Gert, I’m so sorry. I never wanted anyone to get hurt.” Nico choked on her words as the tears started falling, freezing to her face almost immediately.

“Well, great work.” Gert said. As soon as the words left her mouth, Gert’s face went slack and she began to fall backwards. Nico took a step forward, but before she could get further, Chase appeared out of nowhere behind Gert, catching her body.

“Ch-Chase?” Nico squeaked out.

“NOOOOOO!” Chase screamed as he looked down at the corpse of the girl he loved. Nico saw him look up across to her, eyes glowing bright red. “WE TRUSTED YOU. HOW COULD  
YOU LET HER DIE??”

Nico didn’t understand what she was seeing, but she felt sobs start to form in her chest. “Chase, I…” was all Nico could get out before Chase suddenly pulled the dagger from Gert’s chest and lunged toward Nico.

“Chase, please!” Nico yelled, crossing her arms above her head and closed her eyes, but Chase didn’t stop.

Nico let out a terrible scream as she felt the blade cut through her left arm. When Nico opened her eyes, Chase and Gert were gone, but on the ground in front of her, holding the Staff of One, was what used to be her arm.

Nico continued to cry out at the excruciating pain, stopping only when she nearly vomited at the horrible sight of two jagged bones protruding out just below her elbow, blood flowing freely down onto the snow.

She reached her remaining hand toward it, but she didn’t know how to stop it, and it hurt too much, so she pulled back. When Nico looked back to the ground, her arm and the Staff were gone, lost in the snow. Nico fell to her knees and screamed, blood still pouring out onto the snow around her.

To her right, Nico heard someone call her name in a faint but familiar voice. With nothing else to do, she stumbled toward it.

Nico felt a chill race through her already freezing body as she found the source. Standing in front of her, with a hand outstretched and a big smile on his face, was Alex Wilder.

“Join me, Nico. Give the Gibborim what they want, and we can rule together in paradise.” Alex said, laughing evilly.

“No….no...nononononono,” Nico repeated, backing away from Alex slowly, before turning and running in the opposite direction. Her newly lost limb made her lose her balance, and she fell quickly after taking off. Nico climbed back on her feet, darting her eyes in every direction, but she couldn’t see Alex anymore. Nico kept running, not sure how long she had before every drop of her blood had spilled from her arm.

Nico only made it a few more steps before she heard another voice, this one more comforting.

“Nico?” said a very young sounding girl.

“Molly!” Nico yelled out between sobs, changing direction to head towards her youngest friend. Nico soon saw the familiar shape of Molly’s pink hat appear from the sea of white. Nico didn’t know how, but maybe things would be alright now if Molly were here. She ignored the screaming pain of her severed arm and pushed on.

When she finally saw Molly, Nico smiled despite herself.

“Molly!” Nico was initially relieved, but felt her heart sink when she saw that Molly was down on her knees, crying.

“How could you leave us, Nico?” Molly asked, the hurt look on her face causing Nico more pain than her arm.

“I...I’m so sorry Molly, I just couldn’t. After Gert, and Murderworld, and the Masters of Evil, I couldn’t be around you. I didn’t want to hurt anyone else” Nico was now back to fully crying.

“But you were our FAMILY” Molly yelled, standing up and rearing back her fist. Molly ran forward and punched Nico square in the chest.

Nico felt like her ribs exploded as she went flying backwards and then she was falling, falling over the edge of a cliff that didn’t seem to be behind her a minute ago.  
Nico had nothing left. All she could do was to let herself fall, and she kept falling for what felt like an eternity. Nico fell and fell, still more blood streaking through the air from her arm.

As she fell, she heard still more voices screaming at her for everything she’d ever done. First it was Gert.

“How could you let this happen to me”

Then Chase.

“WE TRUSTED YOU”

Alex.

“Join Me.”

Molly.

“You were our FAMILY.”

Then it was the voice of Carol Danvers.

“MURDERER”

Then Nico heard her parents voices, laughing at her.

“How pathetic. She’s so weak. How is she even a Minoru?”

Right when her parents voices faded away, still laughing, Nico crashed into the ground. She couldn’t fathom how she was still alive. It felt like every bone she had left was  
shattered.

Nico rolled over onto her front and looked at her surroundings. Snow still covered the ground, but it wasn’t blowing around anymore. She could actually see the night sky around the snowy hill she lay on. But she still couldn’t bring herself to move, and there was nowhere to move to. Nico lay helplessly, watching the blood leak out from her arm, waiting for it all to end.

Then she heard footsteps crunching in the snow towards her. What new terror could this possibly be? Nico didn’t think she could take anything else.

Nico pulled her head up and watched a figure crest over the hill. Nico felt an instant wave of warmth rush over her broken body as she saw long blonde hair surrounding the prettiest face she had ever seen.

“Karolina...please…” Nico wheezed out.

Karolina stopped a few feet away from where Nico lay, but didn’t seem to notice her. Nico thought she looked sad, and immediately forgot about her problems, wanting to know how to make Karolina smile again.

Another figure crested the hill behind Karolina and stood close by.

“Come, my love.” Nico heard the voice of Xavin say. “There’s nothing for you on this planet anymore.”

“You’re right.” Karolina responded, quiet and sad. “ I guess Nico never cared about me after all.”

This, of all things, was too much for Nico to bear.

“Please, Karolina, don’t leave me!” Nico cried out trying to get Karolina’s attention as she and Xavin turned around and walked out of sight. The pain of everything was finally too much, and Nico felt herself fading.

“Please...Karrie....I love you…” Nico’s world started to blur and go dark. In the distance, she saw a small green ship launch into space, a streak of rainbow light trailing behind it, taking her last hope and greatest love away.

Too tired and too broken to go on, Nico’s eyes slowly dropped, fading away into darkness.

 

Nico shot up into a sitting position and screamed all the air out of her lungs, then gasped deep and hard so she could scream again. She didn’t know where she was, and she couldn’t think about it because all she could see was flashes of Gert’s lifeless body, her bloody, unattached arm lying on the ground, Karolina flying off to space and away from her forever.

Over her own sobs, Nico barely made out a soft, velvet voice trying to break through.

“Hey, Hey, Nico, you’re okay, I’m right here”

Nico felt smooth skinned hand grip her upper arm, rubbing it soothingly before moving down her arm. Nico could barely make out the sight of the hand gripping her own left hand. Her left hand. She had a left hand again. This one was made of metal and magic, but it was still a hand. She felt another arm wrap around her back and pull her head close into the crook of a soft yet muscular shoulder.

“You’re okay, baby, I’m here with you.”

Nico’s brain finally calmed enough to recognize Karolina holding onto her. Nico leaned into her girlfriend and cried into her neck.

“Breathe, Nico, just breathe.”

Nico tried to get her bearings as she tried to come down from hyperventilating. Karolina wasn’t gone forever, she was right here. With her hand that wasn’t holding Karolina, she felt soft blankets lying below them. Blankets. Sheets. A Bed. Her Bed. This was her bedroom. In the Hostel. Nico was in her bed, with Karolina, in the Hostel. Murderworld was a long time ago. Gert was alive again. Molly didn’t hate her. Never did.

Nico repeated these facts over and over as she slowed her breathing and focused on the way Karolina was stroking her hair.

“You’re safe”, she heard Karolina say softly. “You’re all right, now. I’m not going anywhere.”

Nico rested there for a long time, breathing regularly, holding tightly to Karolina.

Once she thought Nico had calmed enough, Karolina sat up a little, and reached over to the nightstand to grab a tissue and a glass of water. She wiped Nico’s cried out face, and brought the water to her mouth to soothe her screamed out throat. As Nico took small sips, Karolina asked asked quietly, “Murderworld?”

“Yea” Nico said weakly.

“Your arm hurting?”

Nico felt a dull ache where she used to feel her left arm,  a phantom pain that often showed up when she dreamed of losing it.

“A little. Its okay.”

“Do you need anything?”

“No. This is good.” Karolina placed the glass back on the night stans. Nico wrapped her arms tightly around Karolina.

“Thank you” Nico whispered.

“Always.” Karolina looked down lovingly at Nico.

Nico shifted suddenly, breaking apart and bringing her head up to Karolina’s.

“Hey, Karrie. I love you. You know that, right?” Nico said, almost desperately.

“I know. If there’s anything I know, its that you love me, and I love you, Nico.”

Nico let out a laugh to keep from crying again, though a tear did streak down her face as she smiled at Karolina.

“Okay.”

“Okay.” Karolina leaned forward and brought their lips together, and they kissed softly for a moment.

When they broke apart, Nico’s fingers traced along the metal bracelet along Karolina’s wrist.

“Can you…..”

“Of course.”

Karolina pulled her bracelet off and every part of her glowed in a bright rainbow. Nico smiled even wider and went back in for another soft kiss.

Nico moved back down, wrapping her arms tightly around her greatest love, resting her head against the soft, warm, glowing skin of Karolina’s chest.

The nightmares would still come. But Nico didn’t have to go through them alone anymore. She had a family. And here, now, with Karolina, Nico finally felt safe.


End file.
